Dundee Town Manager Closes Business

DUNDEE — Town Manager Andy Stewart has closed his used-car dealership amid conflict with Vice Mayor Cathy Volosin.Volosin, who lost her bid for re-election Tuesday, and former Mayor Linda Riner-Mizell said code violations on the business should have nullified a special exception that allowed it to open.Riner-Mizell said she thinks Stewart helped steer the business around town regulations and used town email for matters involving the dealership. Riner-Mizell was defeated in Tuesday's election as she sought to return to the Town Commission.Volosin also said the business was keeping Stewart away from Town Hall and his duties as town manager."My intention was to never do something the city didn't allow or wouldn't want," Stewart said. Stewart said he decided to close the business following the March 26 Dundee Town Commission meeting where an argument erupted between Volosin and himself."I did everything in the open and in the end, it didn't work out," Stewart said. "At the end of the day, it's a non-issue right now."He also said the meeting was the first time he heard of Volosin's concerns and he would have preferred she discuss it in private rather than at an open meeting.Volosin said she had wanted to talk with him earlier about code violations at Real Deal Auto Sales, which was run out of a building at 106 Center St., but Stewart was frequently out of the office.Frank Gioscia, co-owner of the building with his wife, Patricia, had invited Stewart to participate in the business in mid-2012.The couple were cited Feb. 6 for having vehicles parked on the grass in violation of a special exception.They were cited again Feb. 8 for mechanical work being done on the property and a metal building placed in the property's buffer zone. Both issues would require more special exceptions.Gioscia said Monday the cars were moved temporarily to check the property for a sinkhole. The metal building, he said, was permitted by the town to be 5 feet from the property line, but he made it 8 feet.Stewart said any violation was handled immediately."I try to do things by the book," Gioscia said.However, a magistrate hearing March 21 upheld the violations and ruled the special exception expired when a state business license wasn't issued within the 180-day deadline.The used car business was in the town's former police station that was vacated after hurricane damage in 2004 and sold to the Gioscias for $35,000 in 2011.Stewart said their's was the only bid.The sale was approved by the Town Council — as it was called then — by a 2-1 vote on Jan. 26, 2011, with then-Mayor Riner-Mizell dissenting.Riner-Mizell said Friday she would have preferred the town had kept the building to rent for public events and bring in needed revenue.Gioscia said the building was in "deplorable condition" and needed an $8,500 roof, new wiring and new insulation, which he had installed. In October 2011, after the building was repaired, he asked for a special exception to open a used car dealership."I had a couple of used car lots up north and I wanted to tinker," Gioscia said.The Town Council granted it as long as he had no more than 10 cars on site, parked them on pavement — not grass — and opened within 180 days.Meeting minutes state Town Attorney John Murphy said any violation of the conditions would invalidate the special exception.Gioscia said despite having made renovations, getting inspected by the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles and registering the business as "Pat's Auto Sales," he and his wife were unable to get state licenses in time because of health problems.Between early May and early June 2012, Gioscia said he approached Stewart to ask if he would like to open a dealership there."He showed interest and offered to get the license so we wouldn't lose (the exception)," Gioscia said.Stewart confirmed that Gioscia asked him to get involved.Stewart said he had bought cars at auction and fixed them up to sell as a hobby, so he agreed to open the business as a hobby.Stewart said he set himself up as sole proprietor and Gioscia assisted him, also as a hobby.Gioscia said he was only interested in getting back any money he spent to purchase cars.Murphy and Stewart started talking as early as June 19 about whether Gioscia's special exception had expired for not yet opening his business, according to town email records.Gioscia sent a letter to Stewart dated June 27, 2012 — more than two months after the deadline — stating he hoped to open in 30 days.Murphy gave Stewart an opinion July 10 — through town email — that the Gioscias had done enough work setting up the business to meet the deadline, so an extension would not be needed, which would have required the matter to go back to the Town Commission.Murphy also said as long as town officials could show they interpreted the town code logically and applied the code the same for every business, courts would uphold his opinion, "even if it did not agree with the outcome."However, Murphy said in a recent interview that he didn't know then that the Gioscias didn't have licenses nor that Stewart was involved with the business.While Stewart couldn't be prohibited from operating a business while employed as town manager, Murphy said, public officials have to be as transparent as possible."My opinions are based on facts given to me," Murphy said. "If Andy (Stewart) had ownership of the business or operated the business, the hope is (he) would be transparent."Murphy said generally a government official's involvement with a business that is under conditions from that government, "would not be a good idea."Volosin said she thinks Stewart used his authority to circumvent the conditions of the special exception.Riner-Mizell said she takes issue with matters being handled through email outside public meetings.Town records state Stewart received a Dundee business license July 12, 2012, his state license on July 18, 2012, and his county licence on March 8, 2013.Town Clerk Joe DeLegge said town code states all businesses must get state and county licenses before getting one from the town.All businesses in town should be treated the same, Riner-Mizell said."The way I choose to invest my money is nobody's business except my family's," Stewart said. "If I need to relocate my business, that's what I'll do."Stewart is also part owner of a limited liability corporation and owns several rental properties.

Phil Attinger covers the Babson Park, Dundee, Frostproof and Lake Wales areas. Contact at phil.attinger@newschief.com or 863-401-6981 and follow on Twitter at @PhilAttinger.